Census of Marine Life on Seamounts (CenSeam)

Seamounts are undersea peaks in the ocean’s floor that rise at least 1km above the surrounding seafloor. They are found in every ocean basin, and it is estimated that several tens of thousands of seamounts exist globally. Seamounts are topographically isolated and are have been found to support unique biological communities that have high levels of endemism, community compositions distinct from the surrounding seafloor, and high levels of abundance. Relatively few seamounts have been studied, with only about 350 having been sampled, and less than 100 of these have been studied in any detail. The Census of Marine Life on Seamounts (CenSeam) provides the framework needed to prioritize, integrate, expand, and facilitate seamount research efforts in order to significantly reduce the unknown, and build towards a global understanding of seamount ecosystems, and the roles they have in the biogeography, biodiversity, productivity, and evolution of marine organisms. The science plan focuses on three main themes: (1) What factors drive seamount community structure, diversity, and endemism, both at the scale of whole seamounts and individual habitats within seamounts? (2) What key processes operate to cause differences between seamounts, and between seamount and nonseamount regions? (3) What are the impacts of fisheries on seamount community structure and function?